Physics 101
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Even if you download the pre-lecture, you should later download and
go through the lecture.
Today: Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Linear Motion
Preliminaries
• Linear motion is motion in a straight line.
• Note that motion is relative: e.g. your paper is moving at
107 000 km/hr relative to the sun. But it is at rest relative to you.
Unless otherwise stated, when we talk about speed of things
in the environment, we will mean relative to the Earth’s
surface.
Clicker Question
Suppose you and a pair of life
preservers are floating down
a swift river, as shown. You
wish to get to either of the life
preservers for safety. One is
3 meters downstream from
you and the other is 3 meters
upstream from you. Which can
you swim to in the shortest
time?
1. The preserver upstream.
2. The preserver downstream
3. Both require the same.
Answer: 3, same time.
You, and both life preservers are moving with the current –
relative to you before you start swimming, neither of the life
preservers are moving.
An analogy: We can think of things on earth as being in a
“current” traveling at 107 000 km/h relative to sun.
Speed
• Speed
measures “how fast” :
Speed =
distance
time
Units: eg. km/h, mi/h (or mph), m/s
meters per second, standard units
for physics
Instantaneous vs Average Speed
Things don’t always move at the same speed, e.g. car starts at
0 km/h, speed up to 50 km/h, stay steady for a while, and then
slow down again to stop.
50 km/h
speed
average speed
0 km/h
time
total distance covered
Average speed =
time interval
Eg. Carl Lewis once ran 100m in 9.92s.
•
What was his average speed during that run?
Average speed = distance/time = 100m/9.92s = 10.1 m/s
•
How much distance did he cover per second, on
average?
10.1 m, by definition of average speed
•
How did this relate to his top speed? (i.e. is it greater
or less or the same)
Top speed is greater (actually about 10% over !)
Velocity
• Velocity is speed in a given direction (velocity is a vector,
speed is a scalar)
• When
there’s just one direction of interest (up or down),
often indicate direction by + or -.
• Note
that an object may have constant speed
but a changing velocity
Eg. Whirling a ball at the end of a string, in a horizontal
circle – same speed at all times, but changing directions.
Or, think of a car rounding a bend, speedometer may not
change but velocity is changing, since direction is.
Acceleration
• Measures how quickly velocity changes:
Acceleration =
change of velocity
time interval
E.g. We feel acceleration when we
lurch backward in the subway (or
car, bike etc) when it starts, or
when it stops (lurch forward).
• Note
acceleration refers to : decreases in speed,
increases in speed, and/or changes in direction i.e. to
changes in the state of motion. Newton’s 1st law says
then there must be a force acting (more next lecture)
• Note also that acceleration has a direction
Clicker Question
What is the acceleration of a cheetah that zips past you
going at a constant velocity of 60 mph?
A) 0
B) 60 mi/h2
C) Not enough information given to answer problem
D) None of the above
Answer
What is the acceleration of a cheetah that zips past you
going at a constant velocity of 60 mph?
A) 0
B) 60 mi/h2
Constant velocity means no change
in velocity i.e. no acceleration
C) Not enough information given to answer problem
D) None of the above
Questions
a)
A certain car goes from rest to 100 km/h in 10 s. What is its
acceleration?
10 km/h.s (note units!)
b)
In 2 s, a car increases its speed from 60 km/h to 65 km/h while a
bicycle goes from rest to 5 km/h. Which undergoes the greater
acceleration?
The accelerations are the same, since they both gain 5 km/h in 2s, so
acceleration = (change in v)/(time interval) = (5 km/h)/(2 s) = 2.5
km/h.s
c)
What is the average speed of each vehicle in that 2 s interval, if we
assume the acceleration is constant ?
For car: 62.5 km/h
For bike: 2.5 km/h
Clicker Question
Can an object have zero velocity but non-zero acceleration?
A) Yes
B) No
Answer: A) Yes!
Eg. Throw a ball up in the air – at the top of its flight, as it
turns around it has momentarily zero speed but is changing
its direction of motion, so has non-zero acceleration
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Free-Fall
• Free-fall: when falling object falls under influence of
gravity alone (no air resistance, nor any other restraint).
How fast?
During each second of fall, the object speeds up by about 10 m/s
(independent of its weight)
Eg. Free-fall from rest
Time(s)
Velocity(m/s)
0
0
1
10
2
20
3
30
..
..
t
10 t
Hence, free-fall acceleration = 10 m/s2
i.e. velocity gain of 10 meters per second,
per second
We call this acc. due to gravity, g. Near surface of
Earth, g = 9.8 m/s2 downwards.
So write v = g t
Note! We rounded g to 10 m/s2 in the table…
if object dropped from rest
• What
happens if object is thrown upwards, instead of being
dropped?
Once released, it continues to move
upwards for a while, then comes back
down. At the top, its instantaneous speed
is zero (changing direction); then it starts
downward just as if it had been dropped
from rest at that height.
-- As it rises, it slows down at a rate of g.
-- At the top, it has zero velocity as it
changes its direction from up to down.
-- As it falls, it speeds up at a rate of g.
-- Equal elevations have equal speed (but
opposite velocity)
Clicker Question
A ball is thrown up in the air. What is acceleration as it
rises and falls?
A) g = 9.8 m/s2 downwards
B) g = 9.8 m/s2 upwards as it rises and g = 9.8 m/s2
downwards as it falls
C) It starts out with a small acceleration that decreases as
it rises, then increases as it falls
D) None of the above
Answer: A
The acceleration due to gravity is always g = 9.8m/s2 (near the surface of the
earth) and points towards earth. When ball is thrown up, its speed decreases
because acceleration (= rate of change of velocity) is in a direction opposite to
its velocity. As it falls, it speeds up since acceleration is in the same direction
as velocity.
Don’t confuse velocity and acceleration!
Free-fall continued:
How far?
i.e. what distance is travelled?
From the sketch before, we see distance fallen in equal time
intervals, increases as time goes on.
Actually, one can show (appendix in book), for any uniformly
accelerating object,
distance travelled, d = ½ (acceleration x time x time)
So in free-fall :
d=½gt2
Free-fall continued:
…in free-fall :d = ½ g t 2
Free-fall:
Time(s) Distance fallen(m)
0
0
1
5
2
20
3
45
..
..
t
½ 10 t2
Notice that in the 1st second, the
distance is 5m, so the average
speed is 5 m/s.
On the other hand, the
instantaneous speed at the
beginning of the 1st sec ( ie t=0)
is 0 and at the end of 1st sec is v
= 10 m/s (earlier table).
So, in this case, the average
speed is the average of the initial
and final speeds.
Application: “Hang-time” of jumpers
• Michael Jordan’s best hang-time was 0.9 s – this is the
time the feet are off the ground. Let’s round this to 1 s.
How high can he jump?
Use d = ½ g t2 . For 1 s hang-time, that’s ½ s up and ½ s
down. So, substituting
d = ½ (10) (1/2)2 = 1.25 m
This is about 4 feet!
Note that good athletes, dancers etc may appear to jump
higher, but very few can raise their center of gravity more
than 4 feet.
Summary of definitions
Clicker Question
Tracks A and B are made from pieces of channel
iron of the same length. They are bent identically
except for a small dip near the middle of Track B.
When the balls are simultaneously released on
both tracks as indicated, the ball that races to the
end of the track first is on
1. Track A.
2. Track B.
3. Both reach the end at the same time.
Answer: 2
The ball to win the race is the ball having the greatest average speed. Along
each track both balls have identical speeds—except at the dip in Track B.
Instantaneous speeds everywhere in the dip are greater than the flat part of the
track. Greater speed in the dip means greater overall average speed and
shorter time for a ball on Track B.
Note that both balls finish at the same speed, but not in the same time. Although
the speed gained when going down the dip is the same as the speed lost
coming out of the dip, average speed while in the dip is greater than along the
flat part of the track.
If this seems tricky, it’s the classic confusion between speed and time.
Question (to think about…)
An airplane makes a straight back-and-forth
round trip, always at the same airspeed,
between two cities. If it encounters a mild
steady tailwind going, and the same steady
headwind returning, will the round trip take:
1. more
2. less
3. the same time as with no wind?
Answer: 1: The windy trip will take more
time.
E.g. Suppose the cities are 600 km apart, and the airspeed of the plane is
300 km/h (relative to still air). Then time each way with no wind is 2 hours.
Roundtrip time is 4 hours.
Now consider a 100 km/h tailwind going, so groundspeed is (300 + 100) km/h.
Then the time is (600 km)/(400km/h) = 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Returning groundspeed is (300 – 100) km/h, and the time is (600 km)/(200km/h) =
3 hours.
So the windy round trip takes 4.5 hours—longer than with no wind at all.